The Global Art Show!…

Last Friday, all of the little traveling artists, in my class, proudly shared their week’s work with their friends and family at their Global Art Show!

As their teacher and fellow travel companion, I witnessed a week’s worth of excitement in learning new forms of artistic expression, and delight in accomplishing each style. One of my very favorite parts of the week, was hearing the kiddos refer each day to the previously traveled countries within their vocabulary, references, and play! Anything circular in shape became referred to as a ‘mandala’, makeshift cradleboards where used to bring along stuffed friends to class, any hats worn or seen became ‘babushkas’, and tops of heads became useful sources of additional storage space when moving from room to room. Lots of fun and lots of laughs!

I loved this opportunity more than I can adequately describe in this post. As an educator, most simply put, I believe in children. I believe in each child’s unique style of learning and the beautiful outcomes that come from finding it. Because of this, I believe in providing children educational opportunities on many levels, in order to enrich the artistic experience for each individual child and make it more connectable within their own lives. Through music, literature, cuisine, scents, textures, lively conversations, and of course, art, any combination of these will make the experience much richer.

This process is even more important to me when exploring people of other cultures with children. Living in a culture which continues to dissect itself into smaller and smaller categories used to define us, I prefer to provide a more broadly inclusive experience in which children can connect to the similarities between themselves and those living across the world. Each of the components I listed above exist in each culture. Last week, the children loved exploring them all, and the globally-inspired art that resulted speaks loudly of the celebratory time had by all!

Thank you, endlessly, to all of the kiddos and parents for letting me spend the week alongside you! Also, thank you Scott, Madge and Zoe for helping make this week happen! And thanks to Global Gardens for the use of the wonderful Eugene Field garden classroom, a work of art in its own right! And, lastly, thank you so much to Sasha Martin, a dear friend who took a break from working on her upcoming book, a memoir documenting the adventures which led her to begin her blogging masterpiece, Global Table Adventure, and whose delectable global bites at the art show transported our taste buds intercontinentally… you are a culinary genius!

And without further ado, here are some of the photographs from the show! Enjoy and be awed by the talent of these young artists (and that of the kiddos in your life, as well!)…

and ps… i am so happy to announce several new summer classes on Monday of next week! Keep a lookout here and also check for updates in classes on my website, www.annieferris.com.